


Haikyuu Art Online

by Cautiously_Dauntless, conbi



Category: Haikyuu!!, Sword Art Online
Genre: Be Careful What You Wish For, Crossover, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, Friendship, Gen, Genocide, Half of these tags are made up by me, Homicide, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Playing video games, Possible Character Death, Possible violence, Software Manipulation, Swords, Team, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, To Be Continued, Virtual Reality, What Have I Done, death ment, death tw, suicide TW, suicide ment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cautiously_Dauntless/pseuds/Cautiously_Dauntless, https://archiveofourown.org/users/conbi/pseuds/conbi
Summary: At the suggestion of Nekoma's Kenma Kozume, the Karasuno Volleyball team gets into the virtual reality game of Sword Art Online, with the full intention of just experimenting, trolling around, and logging on and off from time to time...First a couple bugs show up, but the inconvenience is cleared and forgotten under the amazing RAM and mind-blowing graphics. But what happens when they discover they're trapped?!





	1. Into the Games

**Author's Note:**

> From Kagehina (imCoD)
> 
> hi guys, i decided to do a crossover fanfic because I was bored with Nyctophiliaa here (thank you so much for the idea btw) and I hope you like it. Completely unsure of where this is going to go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting into SAO

"C'mon, it'll be fun," Kuroo plugs Hinata's Nervegear into the wall and spreads a couple bean bags on the floor, the former handing the latter the grey, helmet-like controller. "I promise we won't make you come and play that often. Especially you, Kageyama-kun."

"How did I get dragged into this again?" The setter bounces a volleyball against an empty space on the wall of Kenma's apartment. "If I have time to be doing this, I have time to be practicing volleyball."

"It's just one time, Kageyama, Jeez," Hinata sucks on some hard candy as he catches the multicolored sphere in midair. He throws a cheesy grin at his taller teammate and rolls the ball into the closet. Kageyama responds with silence, to which Hinata exclaims, "loosen up a bit!"

Tsukishima sighs from the corner of the room, his snow white Nervegear unit already powered up with its side glowing a bright green. "I thought I'd never say this, but I'm with the King on this one. I don't see how this game has any point."

Kuroo smirks and calls over his shoulder, "you're lucky Bokuto is too sick to drive all the way over here," as if it would pick up the tall blonde's mood.

"You know what, I'll just see you in the game," he closes his eyes and leans back onto his own bean bag. "Link start."

Kageyama just stares at the now motionless boy, wondering how he could have possibly agreed to this. He looks at Kuroo, then at Hinata, who jumps up and practically shoves the Navy blue helmet onto the tall boy's head. Kageyama lurches with the force, clutching at his head with one hand and grabbing at the shorter redhead with the other. "Ow! Fu- Boke! That _hurt_! Don't do that!" 

Hinata giggles and retreats to Kuroo's side as Kageyama storms up to him, the shortest of the three looking fairly ridiculous in the oversized, old Nervegear unit that Kenma lent him. (Somehow, Kenma has a bigger head than Hinata... maybe it was just the latter's hair that made his entire head seem bigger.)

Speaking of the devil, the half-blond-half-black haired setter comes in through the doorway, and the trio instantly falls silent. Yes, they promised Kenma that they would all be in-game by the time Kenma came back to his room, and even though he wasn't a particularly scary person the three scurried their separate ways and quickly launched the server.

Kenma, meanwhile, still stood in the doorway of his room. He shrugged, stepped over the numerous bodies lying on his floor, and picked up his own slightly battered helmet. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he lay down on his bed and in a swirl of colors his consciousness launched into the game.


	2. Spawn Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata spawns in SAO, and meets up with the other players.

Hinata emerged from the bright swirl of colors and blinked, getting used to the light of the overhead sun. As his gaze paned around, he saw that many players already spawning in the lobby beside him, in all sorts of clothing, and with all different shades of hair. Peering throught he crowd, he failed to spot Kenma's gamertag, and resolved to just awkwardly stand in the courtyard-like space and wait for the others to find him. Even though his instructions were for _himself_ to find the pudding head as soon as he logged in, and then wait for everyone else to log in as well, he didn't want to risk getting lost in the process.

While looking around, the redhead remembered that there was the left hand swipe down feature that brought up the menu. He wondered if there was a way to search for users.

Scrolling down the list, he soon gave up. Even though the names were sorted into alphabetical order (because sure, using Romanji was better than Kanji), there were just too many players. Nearby there was a table with a map showing where all the players were, but many of the tiny flashing dots moved way too fast, and the overlap of usernames was too confusing.

"Oi, is that you dumbass?" A familiar voice called out, grumpy and frowning.

Hinata whirled around to find his setter. "Bakageyama, your hair looks nearly the same, you should have picked something cool like green!"

"You're tall and it's weird." Hinata had chosen his height to be around Kageyama's height, three centimeters shorter to be precise because he had made a mistake (he actually planned to be _**taller**_ than Kageyama), purely so he could match up to him for once. A snicker came nearby, the source being an even taller blonde who had a black haired boy trailing him. 

"Electric blue hair?" Tskukishima's voice scoffed at the redhead's character choice.

"Says the guy who looks exactly the same!" Hinata shot back, sticking his tounge out. 

"Cyan," at least the stale, gold eyes were the same. The same gold also flashed on the tallest one's ears- earrings... apparently in-game Tsukishima was a 'savage and scavenge' type. (A term coined on the fly by Nishinoya once.)

"Yamaguchi," Kageyama said raiding his hand in a hello. Hinata's attention snapped to the black haired boy.

"Oh! Yamaguchi how come you're here? I thought you were sick?" The anxious first year scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I am. I got the Nervegear the other day with intent of coming along with Tsukki, but I got sick and my mom didn't want me to go on the train, so I set it up and texted Tsukki to meet up with me when he got on..." 

"So your body is able to treat your sickness in the real world?" Kageyama examined the black haired boy in front of him. "I thought Nervegear shut down all signals from and to your body."

"That's true, actually," Yamaguchi tugged on the hem of his default outfit: an ivory colored t-shirt with cheap, only-spares-two-points-per-hit kind of leather armor. (Nishinoya referrer to this as the 'noob who sticks to the rules' type player.) "I can feel my body temperature being higher than normal, and I'm sneezing more often than I would regularly inside the game... but it's better than sitting around and doing nothing."

"Anyway, where are Kuroo and Kenma?" Hinata interrupted. 

"Yo," Kuroo was clad in a monk-like black robe which dropped down past his knees and had a hood in the back. "Sorry for the delay, there was a glitch in Kenma's spawn point and he kinda ended up outside the courtyard. 

"Sorry about that," the one beside Kuroo, evidently Kenma murmured. He too had changed his height to a more suitable number, but didn't change as drastically as Hinata had. "I guess maybe it's because my Nervegear is a little beaten- maybe when we log off I'll take a look at it... I think there was this one thing that might have short-circuited... hm... it shouldn't be too big of a problem in game though. Hinata, how is my older Nervegear going for you?"

Unlike the others, he didn't seem the least bit fazed that his friend had gone from short to tall, and from red to blue hair.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it Kenma! It's only the third or fourth time that I've tried using the MMORPG thing-ys with the Nervegear, and it's so realistic! Thanks again!"

Kenma's gaze went downcast, as per usual. "Glad to hear it."

The group of six stood for a bit (Kenma and Kuroo either not noticing Yamaguchi or just no acknowledging him), watching other playing mingle and mess around.

"Should we make a team? The six of us?" Tsukishima offered, swiping and clicking seemingly random slots in the endless dropdown menu. "It'll be a lot easier to deal with the sharing of money and treasures. "

"Please," Kuroo swept his hand in front of him, as if to display a prized possesstion. "I would be honored."

Kenma nodded, Kageyama grunted, and Hinata was busy picking himself up from off the floor- he had been knocked over by a player who came barreling by.

"Sure! What do you guys want to do now?" He dusted off his knee pads, which somehow looked extremely like volleybal knee pads. "Can we explore the map?"

Tsukishima finished adding the group, and then said, "Yes, we can. But first, who should be the leader?"

The two Nekoma boys found themselves under a signifigant number of stares, at which Kuroo bowed his head. "Majority wins. I'll be the leader of this squad."

"Squad?" Kageyama echoed.

"Yes, squad. Hey Tsukki, enter the guild name as "Squad Volleyball!" Kuroo turned towards the pale boy, only to find that the dropdown menu had vanished.

The blond smirked. "Do it yourself."

Kuroo let out an exasperated groan. "Oh, this is going to be _sooooo_ much fun. Honestly I am looking forwards to watching you all die... so I can hold it against you later."


	3. Mirrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaah I'm so sorry for putting this off D;  
> i hope you enjoy this chapter c;  
> -ny

The ‘squad’ of teens made their way out to the fields, Kenma and Kuroo teaching the youngers how to fight.

“Gwaaah, this is so cool, isn’t it Yamayama?” Hinata turned his small silvery white dagger over in his hands, while Kageyama struggled to carry his large sword.

“Should have picked the whip, this sword is too heavy,” Kageyama grumbled in response. 

A soft wind ruffled through the fields, as the friends practiced dueling with the bulls. Surprisingly Yamaguchi was better than the idiot duo at the game – Hinata presumed it was because if Yamaguchi owned a Nervegear, he probably had played other games on it, hence having some experience. Tsukishima was pretty good for someone who didn't even want to play, while every first year lost a few HP points messing around, the stoic blonde hadn’t lost any. Kuroo wielded a shield and spear, while Kenma had a bow for long range enemies. 

“Okay, I think everyone has the basics down,” Kenma said, the six of them sitting on the grass.

“We could go back into town with the money we got from killing the mobs, and upgrade our armor if you’d prefer.” Kenma pulled down his menu to see the amount of money they had collected. 

“Sure, I’d like to get rid of this thing,” Kageyama said, holding up his sword before putting it back in his inventory. The red of the group agreed that they had nothing better to do, and began making their way down back to town.

“Why do we have to walk inside this game, can’t we just respawn or something?” The raven haired setter said, Hinata leaning on his shoulder

“That’s why it’s fun Bakageyama, you get to experience the game as if it were real life.”

“Yes, but in real life you’re way shorter and you don't have hair the color of an anime protagonist.” Hinata scowled and slugged Kageyama in the shoulder.

“You’re so mean Kageyama!” Hinata stuck his tongue out and Kageyama laughed.

They had nearly reached the entrance to the town when some strange noise started ringing, the six looked around.

“What’s that noise?”

“A bell maybe?”

Kenma frowned. “Maybe it marks every hour, like a bell tower.” Kenma pulled down his menu to see the time.

“It’s almost five thirty, and we still need to catch the train back, so I guess we should log out.” Tsukishima pulled down his log menu with everyone else, when Hinata interrupted whatever the blonde was about to say.

“There’s no logout menu Kenma.” Everyone muttered.

“Idiots, it’s just a bug, I’m sure it’ll be fixed in a few minutes.” Tsukishima  _ tsk _ ed.

“Yeah…” Kenma closed his menu.

“Since we have a little extra time, let’s go to town.” They started walking back, when Kenma felt as if he was being engulfed with blue flames, as the squad disappeared with the flames one by one.

Kenma looked around for his friend's, walking over once he found them. All the players it seemed were gathered inside the main plaza, but all seemed to be looking up at the sky, Kenma turning his golden eyes upward.

A red sign blinked  _ warning _ before a bunch more panels formed a dome around the plaza. A haematic red ooze dropped from the tiles above, Hinata unconsciously clinging to Kageyama’s arm, Yamaguchi doing the same to Tsukishima. Kuroo bumped shoulders with Kenma.

“What’s this?” Kenma shrugged.

“Maybe a welcoming event?” The pudding head wasn’t too sure, if it was a welcoming event the panels wouldn't say  _ system announcement  _ and  _ warnings _ in a threatening color of choice. The blood like goo formed a player in a robe, much larger than the players around them.

It was the Game Master, Kayaba Akihiko. He announced that the missing log out button in face, was not a bug in the game.

“-but a key feature of Sword Art Online.” Kenma frowned, looking at his friend’s faces, who looked confused.

“You cannot log out of SAO of your own will.”

“-destroying your brain and ending your life” Kenma’s head spun, as people in the area began to yell angrily, scream, sob, and bang on the force fields trapping them inside the arena.

If they couldn't log out would they just live inside this virtual world forever? Admittedly Kenma had wished to life in a video game many times, but not like this. If his parents attempted to remove his friend’s nerve gears it his Nerve Gear, they’d all die.

“So, I would like you to focus on clearing the game.”

Kenma breathed out relief slightly, if all they had to do was to defeat the game, well… There were many pro gamers who had logged in, and with over 10,000 players (minus the 213 people who had died from friends and family attempting to remove the Nervegear) defeating an 100 level game would be easy.

“The instant your HP drops to zero, your avatars will vanish forever, and simultaneously, your brains will be destroyed by the Nervegear.”

Now this was bad. If you were just trapped in this game with unlimited lives it would be fine, but no, this was a critical emergency. Kenma had four first years who couldn't even fight a low level bull with their weapons correctly. Kuroo had stepped back, yelling something at the Game Master as many were, but Kenma’s head was underwater, he was drowning, drowning, drowning in his own fear. Hinata was taking shaky breaths as Kageyama slept muttering that it had to be a joke, Yamaguchi was nearly in tears, Tsukishima trying to comfort his friend but also seemed very shaken.

“I've also provided you with a present in your inventory. Please see for yourselves.” People left and right began to drop their menus, searching in their inventory.

“A mirror?” Kuroo scowled.

“This is bullshit, goddamnit…” Kuroo grabbed the mirror and clenched it, when he was engulfed with the blue flames from earlier. Had Kenma’s mom walked in and began taking off their Nerve Gears? was his best friend dying? Kenma reached his arm out, when the blue flames died down, and Kuroo remained there, except there was one difference. Kuroo no longer had red spiked up hair with his avatar, but rather his black lazy hair and wide shoulders.

The first years has taken their mirrors as well, being reverted to their original body.

“Gwaah, not fair.” Hinata said weakly, pouting as he was now short again. Kenma took out his mirror as well, looking at his blonde hair once the flames died down.

“What do we do now?” Yamaguchi asked, having cleaned himself up from crying slightly.

Everyone looked solemn, and very scared. Kenma was too, he was just an addicted gamer, not like he had an advantage over the 10,000 something people in the game.

“Survive.”


	4. Don't Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone is all over the place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got a haircut and I'm so happy and idfk how this is even possible

Many people ran away the second they were allowed. No one was calm, it was impossible, they were going to  _die._ And in this completely rampant, human stampede someone could have very well already died. Trampled underfoot, murdered onsight by the people beside them, their passing only known to thier murderers as no blood was left behind.

Kuroo, with the last speck of common sense in him, forced his legs to stay steady and hold on to all of his 'squad', pulling them down and crouching, holing in on himself with fear, fear, fear, pinning then in place like an anchor. 

_We're going to die._

Once the jostling had been slowed to a more manageable level, Tsukishima hauled Kuroo to a stand, the latter clinging onto the former and Kenma for support.

His dark robes, which felt so  _right_ and  _cool_ and _calm_ - _monk-like_ and so  _badass_ before, now only felt like thin rags that couldn't protect against a single insult against him. The blue fire, _that_ blue fire, which had previously surrounded Kenma's robes, was no longer there, could no longer calm him down, could no longer keep him steady.

His heart fluttered, his gut tightened, it was worse than any game, video or volleyball, that he had ever played before. It was a pit, right there in his abdomen, as if someone had torn out his vitals and cast them onto the floor without a second thought. 

"Kenma," he murmured. "Kenma, lead them. Lead me, help us. I can't."

The rest solemnly chorused in agreement. "Help us. We don't know."

The pudding head hesitated, clearly bathing in aftershock... but who wasn't? The group of student athletes let their leader decide.

And decide he did.

"Follow me."

* * *

 

Even though sprinting across the shingled and thatched roofs of the First Floor villiage was incredibly tedious and quite a workout, it saved the six teenagers the trouble of wading through the traffic below. This didn't bother them, though, as the choking realization that this was reality forced them to keep pumping their arms and jogging their legs.

 _Get away from_ there _. Get away from that dome, get away from the hooded figure in red robes, find a place where it's safe._

More than a a few times, they passed places that looked like it was supposed to be some kind of market or trading center, but each and every one of them was in the process of being completely raided and destroyed. Kenma wondered how much RAM there was, (he had forgotten to check,) marveling through his fear that the game was not in a state of complete collapse due to lag.

_Perhaps Akihito anticipated this when he launched the game._

As a setter and gamer, he was taught to asses his inventory, his arsenal, and make quick decisions based on that. He was taught that things, however, are not just statistics.

Maybe his fear was making his mind clearer.

He had already ruled out different options for a destination. The markets could be considered off limits, and as the sky darkened above them it would be too difficult to find their way through the Fields or the Woods. Of course, the Second Floor was not an option. Finding a Dungeon to claim prizes wouldn't be suitable for Hinata, who was still rather clumsy, and especially not for Kageyama, as dislike for one's own weapon was a big disadvantage.

One way would be to leave Kuroo and Yamaguchi behind to protect the others and go alone, but even that was too risky. Kenma had already realized that even the low level mob's AI was unlike any other- which made him afraid to see what higher level mobs could do. 

Trying to find anyone else the six knew was an insane idea. First, it would take too long, and second, yet another person would be too big of a burden. Dumping people obviously was not an option.

An obvious answer would be to migrate to another town, and Kenma decided to follow the trail of people already heading out. He stopped on a rather flat roof near the end of the town.

"You gain XP if you run for a long enough time and distance. Seeing that you two-" he pointed at the redhead and the raven haired boy, "Don't have much experience to begin with, more suitable weapons you can buy with that little XP might be able to make up for it."

Without another word, they climbed down a chimney at the very edge of the town, only then allowing themselves a longer minute of rest. It was fortunate that they were all in such high condition, especially Hinata. Even Yamaguchi was able to sustain.

"You should have an easier time operating, now that you don't have to adjust to different body proportions. Unfortunately, I don't know any hacks or glitches that can improve durability or strength, but I do know some ways to evade bodily necessities like the need for water and sleep," Kenma pulled down his dropdown menu with a swipe of his fingers. "You guys, open up your menus, and copy me."

They did so.

The pudding head navigated to a map of the body, and moved around a few dots labelled "center of gravity" and "center of energy", before turning off sensory mechanisms attaching to everything but sight, hearing, smell, and touch in the hands and arms. "Alright, the reason for this is a little complicated. Basically, players in SAO don't have organs or blood, which means that nutrients are not physically carried throught your system. This also means that we don't have to worry if we turn off the flow of energy to most of our body. So I'm turning it off, and it should make everything more efficient."

"How did you figure this out?" Kuroo let the former setter click the buttons in his dropdown menu. "You should have told me."

"I only thought about it last week, I never go the chance to try it out," Kenma made sure that everything was working properly for everyone. "Alright, let's go."

"This feels weird," Hinata complained.

"It'll get better, I promise, just don't question. This isn't a forever thing anyway. Just follow me."

"Yes, KenKen."

"Alright. We're leaving."

The group turned to look at the scarce line of torches, trailing off into the horizon towards the other towns like the branches of trees. One by one, they placed their feet right in front of left, left in front of right, setting off for a yet unknown destination.


	5. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok it sounds ominous like yeah but no don't worry none of our faves die ok 
> 
> (suicide tw)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ny here - gOd i am so sorry for like ever updating please take this chapter as an apology and i'll write some more ,, i stayed up till 4 am writing this lol

"So... Where are we going?" Kageyama asked, looking around. Everyone was still shaken, but collected better, more focused on, well, not dying. All eyes turned to Kenma who pulled down a map menu.

"Second floor is a no. This town will be sold out any second, and the forest will be too dark with more chances of surprise attacks from mobs." Kenma zoomed in on the map of the first floor, the squad gathering around.

"There's two other towns. The closer one most people seem to be heading to, but the second one is larger and no doubt has better inventory in the shops. It's farther though."

"So... Where are we going?" Kageyama repeated.

"Uh well I propose we go to the larger town." Kenma glanced up to Kuroo.

"Count me down for whatever Kenma says, he's the pro gamer here." Nods of agreement came from Kuroo's statement.

"Uh alright, let's go."

\---

On the way Hinata stopped to gather berries in a nearby plant.

"We don't really need them," Kenma said quietly, as Hinata grabbed a handful and put them in his inventory.

"Yes but having food with me even if I don't need it sorta, gives me something normal. Outside this whole 'you die in the game you die in real life' shit." Hinata explained, straightening up and following Kenma on the path.

Kenma nodded slightly in agreement. Whatever floats his boat and made him more comfortable, who was Kenma to say he can't?

"So uh, what happens if one of us like, dies?" The question turned heads to a nervous Yamaguchi.

"What do you mean?" Tsukishima asked. "None of us are going to die."

"You don't know that!" Yamaguchi said, a little louder.

"I just, l think we should do something special if we die." The second sentence came out quieter.

"Like a memorial?" Kuroo asked.

"If the game ends-"

"When. When the game ends." Tsukki corrected his best friend.

"When it ends, yes of course, but like, i was thinking of writing letters or something?"

Hinata dropped a berry and stepped on it, watching it shatter into blue shards of pixels. "Can we... Not talk about us dying?"

"Yeah, none of us will die." Kageyama agreeed. Yamaguchi looked away awkwardly, regretting that he had brought up the topic.

"I think it's a good idea," Kenma said quietly. Kenma was as scared as everyone else, his left side of his brain working on getting everything they need to survive, and his right side worrying about being unplugged and his friends dying.

"Seriously?" Kuroo asked.

"Yeah, we can do it if we have time when we arrive in the town." Everyone shut up and nodded.

\---

"What's that?" Hinata pointed to a fence like wall.

"It's the edge of Aincrad. There's multiple levels and they have no walls, except the small half walls to prevent players from falling off. The only way to get to the next level is through the dungeon. There's nothing below Aincrad. Automatic death if you fall. It's like a void." Kenma glanced over to the wall along with Hinata.

"Wait what the hell?" Kageyama pointed to the right of where the two short teens were looking.

"Fuck!" Kuroo broke into a sprint, everyone else following.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, running next to Tobio.

"There's someone on the wall." Oh my god, Hinata thought. He knew suicide was like, a thing that happened, but it was never like, real to him. Sort of sad stories you heard in the news.

"Wait! Don't jump you won't respawn!" Kuroo yelled, at what seemed to be a girl around their age.

The girl didn't turn, and yelled, "I know!" before stepping off the wall. Everyone shouted, Kuroo nearly leaping off the wall trying to catch her. Kenma grabbed Kuroo's legs, everyone else making a human chain to pull him up. The blue shards arose when she reached the limit where you'd die.

"What the fuck?" Kuroo said, slamming his fist on the wall, his health going down 1 point.

Kenma pushed him down so he was sitting and kneeled in front of him.

"It wasn't your fault. She would have jumped even if we didn't see her."

"Goddammit I could have convinced her! She could have lived!" Kuroo's voice cracked on the last word. If he couldn't save a stranger how could he save his friends? We're any of them thinking of this?

"This might be a thing that happens now, considering we're stuck in a death game. People who came to leave reality might use this as their method." Kenma announced. Everyone was still visibly shaken.

"God, that was so," Kageyama said, folding his hands together, looking down the void. "so messed up." The void's cloudy blue sky did nothing for it's true horrifying demeanor.

"We have to keep going. We can't let stuff like this shake us." Kenma said uncertainly, returning to the path, everyone following, except Kuroo.

"Can't let this shake us? Someone just killed themselves! In front of us! That's like, automatically traumatizing!" Kuroo said. "People are dying we can't just-"

"It's survival of the fittest.  
No one else is going to help us either." Kenma said. All he was focused on was keeping his friends alive. It was terrifying that people were dying here and there but he didn't want that to happen to Hinata or Kuroo or anyone else.

"Well we can help them even if they won't help us!" Kuroo rebutted. Everyone else looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I'm trying to save our friends. We try to survive first. If we survive and get good enough and we beat the game, we'll save more people that way." Kenma said, walking over to Kuroo. "Let's go please." This was the most emotion anyone had seen of Kenma, besides Kuroo and Hinata.

The group trudged onwards to the town, the sky becoming dark, matching the overall mood of everyone. This would be dangerous, hard and terrifying, but they had to try.


	6. Blue Flurry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo is unstable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya i have an update
> 
> thanks for edits Nyctophiliaa

Due to the fact that a few players were in the SAO Beta Version and knew their way around (at least kind of), a number of people had already reached the ‘closer but smaller town’ Kenma had referred to. By the looks of it, the Small Town was being pillaged by multiple scattered parties rather than a single large mob, and by now was probably half depleted of its natural treasure troves and items. Who knows what could be happening with the Large Town by now. 

Hopefully not much.

The stars spread in a curtain over a sky so realistic it was hard to believe it was just a game. Cool gusts of wind swept across the plains, making the grasses ripple in waves and blowing up dirt on the unpaved, narrow path. If no one’s lives were on the line, the group would have stopped and stood in awe, admiring the mere graphics and the time it must have taken to make such a scene… but they couldn’t.

As they neared the Small Town, which was lit only with specks of amber torch fire, the number of mobs grew smaller and smaller. Kenma knew that the game wouldn’t be skimpy when it came to spawning mobs near villages, especially not a game supposedly to be used as a killing machine. He then deducted that experienced and desperate players alike must have already collected good drops from whatever small fry had come their way, but probably not working together in the process. 

By Tsukishima’s suggestion, they dipped into the Small Town to see if there was anything worth keeping, splitting into two groups of three to cover more territory. As they had all suspected, many of the chests had all been emptied, save for a few useless items such as pottery, brooms, broken farming tools, and so on. 

As for meeting the others in town, there was a complete bloodbath at the eastern gate, the main entrance to the city and the entrance closest to the Spawn City. As for the players who started it, they would later become known as the first and then biggest red guild: Laughing Coffin. Tsukishima almost led the group into the scandal, but heard the screaming and turned the group to the north entrance.

Aside from that, no one tried to kill or injure each other. When the group members passed others on the cobblestone paths, presences were acknowledged with a mere head nod, and then all were onto their separate ways. 

The group managed to come out of the village with some supplies, but not yet pausing to check what they had gotten. The torches, however, were split up evenly. Most remained unlit and stored in inventory, while each pair of people shared a single torch.

Roaming along the path to the Large Town was a lone bull-like creature, with a aegean hide and cardinal red eyes. Kuroo almost didn’t hesitate, and sprinted forward and stabbed it with the bluntest weapon in his inventory. 

The creature let out tortured squeals as its HP dropped further and further, as Kuroo shoved the wooden rod deeper and deeper into the animal.

The rest of the group remained silent, standing in a forlorn ring around the young man and the dying creature. No one protested, not even Kenma, as Kuroo took his rage out on the  piece of programming. 

Kuroo had tears on his face, sniffing as the bull groaned and lurched, pinned underneath the weeping high schooler.

“I could have saved her.  _ We  _ could have saved her!” he thrust the wooden rod into where the creature’s gut would be, ripped it out, and roughly stabbed it where its lung would be. “And the ones we just saw! Those shrill cries-- The bull squealed again, and many times more as it received more and more blows from all directions. “God, how many more deaths like that are we going to goddamn  _ see _ ?”

The HP of the bull was entering the red now. 

“Just how  _ many _ ?” Kuroo roared.

The bull let out a final snort, a low rumble, a whine, and burst into a thousand, flurrying blue-green shards, which disappeared one by one in the chilly breeze. Shards just like the ones of the girl who had passed, shards that would now mean death just as well as a gravestone would in the read world. These pieces that looked like they could symbolize a very soul breaking apart, a very soul that has given up on fighting for its own existence.

Kuroo dropped to his knees, weeping as if it was his life that was to be taken instead of the girl’s, instead of all the others who must have died already. Survivor's guilt, shame, anger, shock... they plagued him worse than the Black Death could.

“No, no, no,” he moaned softly, covering his ears, then his eyes, clamming up. An underlying confusion wracked at the back of his mind, his thoughts whirling like snowflakes in a blizzard. He was so unstable, more unstable than anyone had ever known him to be, even Kenma.

A whole minute passed before Kenma stepped forward, kneeling behind his best friend. “It’s just going to happen, Kuroo. We can’t do anything about it. I’m sorry,” he said and hugged the elder to his chest.

The rest of the group also had tears leaking from their eyes, whether they consciously noticed it or not. Each and every one of the six was distraught, shifting his weight from foot to foot with a mute tongue. On the outside, Kageyama and Tsukishima watched the Nekoma boys dead on, hiding their emotion through mostly expressionless faces. At Kageyama’s and Tsukishima’s side respectively, Hinata and Yamaguchi diverted their gazes, looking to the ground as if to find answers there.

Kuroo grew silent as the seconds went by, left only trembling against the vague warmth of Kenma’s body heat.

"We should say goodbye to her. And everyone who's already passed," Kenma stroked the head of his best friend. "Okay?"

Kuroo nearly choked on the words, but managed to bid the fallen warriors a shaky farewell. Kenma let him cry for a few minutes longer. 

Once Kuroo had calmed his breathing, Kenma drew himself up to his feet, holding his hand out. “We shouldn’t linger. Get up.”

The teen didn’t respond.

“Kuroo, please,” Kenma coaxed. “We’re running out of time.”

Without raising his head, Kuroo wiped the tears from his eyes and took the pudding head’s hand. In response, the rest of the group also raised their hands to their faces. The tears of all vanished into fluttering, uprising blue sparks, like the other items in the game.

The game that was now reality.

Kuroo pulled himself to his feet. “Let’s just… go.”

Without another word, Kenma patted Kuroo’s back a final time and launched into a brisk run, following some other players already far ahead, torches bobbing back and forth in a brilliant yet frustrated symphony. The rest followed, letting the persistent sentiments-- sorrow, rage, fear (or for some, terror)-- carry them onward, like a pebble would let the current of a river carry it downstream.

Fortunately, no other surprises awaited them before they reached the Large Town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well let me know what you thought...


	7. Armories

The group of six approached the Large Town. Less than 10 other players lingered on the outside, but it didn’t seem like any more than 200 were within the city walls-- much less than the hundreds that stayed in the spawn city, killed in the immediate massacre, and in the smaller town. 

 

“So, what should we get first?” The voice piped up, curiously. It was none other than Karasuno’s bright-haired first year, Hinata. 

 

“Well, armor for one. We can't survive off these clothes alone, they barely give us any protection.” The gold eyed second year pulled down his drop menu and scrolled through. No one failed to notice the slight pout and cautious lip biting that followed. “Either weapon upgrades or better weapons altogether.” He eyed Kageyama this time, who seemed relieved that he could now get rid of his heavy broadsword.

 

“Teleport Crystals, health potions, defense upgrades. Inventory expansions, just in case. We’ll probably need to sell some of the loot we got in the last town for money.” Kenma led them into the first store, basic items such as the Teleport Crystals and health potions.

 

“Speaking of which, we should sort all the stuff out,” Yamaguchi pointed out.

 

“We don’t need to,” Tsukishima stowed a rather long, thin sword on his left hip, held fast by his belt. “Since we’re a guild, we can just put everything into the Guild Inventory, which sorts each item by its function. Look.”

 

All the first years gathered around the blonde as he pulled up two windows. “See, the one on the left is my own private inventory. The right one is the group inventory. I can put all these things--” he selected money, torches, various weapons, and things that could be useful for later crafting purposes-- “into the group. And everything else--” he glanced at a couple leftover things-- “can be ejected.”

 

Tsukishima tapped a button labeled ‘Empty Private Inventory’, and all the items instantly appeared on the lawn around two meters away. 

 

The other five players did the same, watching as the numbers built up. 

 

“We can sure sell a ton of these, but maybe not here, they’re too low quality. No one around here is going to want these, but maybe the people back in Spawn city will,” Kuroo gestured at a group of weapons they had picked up in the Small Town and at what was now a trash pile. 

 

Kenma picked up a bunch of rocks from the trash pile and stored them in the group. Upon seeing them show up in his window, Kageyama frowned. “Why would we want  _ those _ ?”

 

“I don’t have a solid answer, but they could be useful if we smelt them or enchant them correctly,” Kenma shrugged. “Or they might just be useless stones, I don’t know yet.”

 

Kageyama opened his mouth to ask yet another question, but Tsukishima cut him off. “We’re probably better off within the city walls getting money than out here in potential danger,” he jerked his head. “Let’s go in.”

 

Kuroo turned around and took the whole trash pile into his inventory. “Each might not be worth much, but I think I can get some cash if all of it gets sold.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Upon walking further into the town, the group found that Kenma was right. Far less people lingered inside this city’s walls than within the Small Town. They decided to hit up a general store first.

 

Inside the shop were rows of shelves, with items ranging from apples to cooked meat to health potions stacked wall to wall. This store didn’t seem to have any high quality weapons, seeming more like a grocery store. They quickly bought some things and emptied it into their guild inventory, with Tsukishima and Kuroo selling some trash for a small amount of profit, and storing the cash in the Group Inventory. 

 

Next, they decided to go to the armory. Kageyama was eager to get a better weapon, it was showing on his face, as his usual scowl was falling slightly. 

 

The stone chamber was warm from the fire in the back of the building, and they all could hear the fire crackle and the clang of metal pounding on metal.

 

A woman approached them. She didn’t have a player tag or a health bar next to her head, so she was a part of the game system. “Good evening. What brings you here so late at night?”

 

Kageyama and Hinata exchanged glances, while the rest were unfazed. The programming with in-game characters (as Kenma stated in passing once) was absolutely horrendous, as the SAO game in itself basically required people to function with actual other people rather than with computers. This game was big budget, and the developers spent it all on the immersive functions of the game… the players were all grateful for that, no glitches yet, but the lacking human aspect of these sorts of non-people was a little offsetting.

 

“I, um, would like a new, um, sword,” Kageyama fumbled to take his other sword, its weight making him almost drop it on his toe. The falling handle, however, tipped and fell on Hinata’s toe instead, at which the smaller boy shrieked and punched the larger in the face. 

 

The lady gave a very robotic chuckle when she heard Kuroo laugh, picking up the old sword. “Would you like something akin to--”

 

“No, thank you,” Kageyama shoved the redhead off of him and took a few steps toward the lady. “Something with a good grip and light weight would be nice, something that’s pretty sensitive to hand motions, however slight.”

 

The woman nodded. “You, come with me, the rest, wait out here and someone else will take care of you.”

 

Kageyama trailed after her into another room, looking over his shoulder at Kenma, who gave a reassuring nod. Meanwhile, another group of players began to speak amongst themselves, ignoring the rest of Kuroo’s silent group. One of them had a red player cursor, and seemed to be the leader by the way the others gathered around them. Yamaguchi stepped back as soon as he saw the foreboding color. 

 

“What next?” a young man in ivory robes leaned his spear against the wall and took the Red Player’s hand. He was tall, around Kageyama’s height, with several horizontal scars lining his wrists. Tsukishima quietly sucked in a breath upon seeing the marks, but managed to pass it off as a cough.

 

“I dunno, babe,” the leader leaned back against their apparent lover. “I come here to relieve my anxiety, I guess only to have it amplified.”

 

“Same goes for others. Including me.”

 

“True that. But I still think you guys should have picked Satou as the leader.”

 

A young woman clad in dim yellow robes shrugged, playing with a shiny strand of silver in her otherwise blood red hair. She was fair skinned, and looked to be a foreigner. “I mean, it’s true that I was a beta player, but that was specifically to test the  _ immersion _ side of the game. You have to stop putting so much faith in me. This map isn’t the one I know.”

 

Another AI spoke from behind the counter with a metallic voice, summoning someone in their party. Satou nodded at the Red Player and their boyfriend, and went with the AI. 

 

“So then why not ShinShin over here?” the Red Player resumed their protest. At this, a man with spikes of purple hair and enormous eye bags rolled his eyes while getting a clap on the back from the Lover.

 

“Well he’s manipulative, and he can be suspicious and secretive at times, while you are very loyal and reliable,” another androgynous person with shoulder length, naturally colored hair shrugged. “And you’re overall skill level is higher than mine.”

 

“Come  _ on _ , Sekki.”

 

“For the millionth time,” the ivory-robed man spoke again. “Don’t worry. We all thought long and hard about choosing you, and remember: you’re not alone in this, and we won't force you to make all the decisions.”

 

Across the room, the three remaining Karasuno boys exchanged glances, looking at the backs of Kenma and Kuroo, who were pretending to scroll through their inventories in deep thought. (Spoiler alert, it wasn’t a very good disguise, as it was clear that they were noticing most of everything around them.)

 

“That guy with the white robes is right, to some extent,” Tsukishima murmured as those in the other group continued their petty babble, tracing his forearms. “We shouldn’t let those Nekoma boys run us over.”

 

“But Tsuki, we shouldn’t turn this into sneaky, offhand politics so quickly,” shifting his weight, Yamaguchi poked at his beanpole of a friend. “We’re not even a day in, for heaven's sake.”

 

The blonde faltered. “Yeah. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

 

“No, you were right to,” Hinata folded his arms, glancing at the other group. “We just shouldn’t act upon it yet, it’s not like they’ve done anything terrible yet. Plus, I don’t think Kenma is the type to abuse his power. He’s smart enough to know that won’t help him or any of us in the long run.”

 

Kuroo’s voice cut through everything. “Well, Kageyama’s back. Who’s next?”

 

Hinata and Tsukishima raised their hands at the same time, but upon noticing the actions of each other, the redhead hastily put his hand down, staring at the floor, trying not to look too anxious to leave. The blonde nodded once, poker faced, and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh


	8. Minotaur in the Plains

“Nice hit, Kageyama,” Kenma remarked over the sound of breaking glass. That is to say, the sound of a creature dying. 

 

The former setter nodded. “Thanks. I do my best.” 

 

Everyone would agree that it seemed that Kageyama’s deadly precision in volleyball had followed him into the game. Although he had never handled a sword before in his life, and hadn’t been using this blade for longer than two days, almost every thrust was accurately calculated, and hit its target. 

 

And indeed, he had chosen just the right sword. Light and airy but resilient, with a straight one sided long blade and simple hilt, it resembled an ancient Japanese Chokuto. With greater in-game modifications, it would respond to every twitch, every slight change in Kageyama’s stature, which could be both beneficial and detrimental.

 

But it still fit him very, very well. 

 

Meanwhile, Kenma was armed with a Chinese Jian sword, also straight and long, but this was double edged with a rather ornate bronze tsuba and hilt. Hinata carried a blue tinted derivative of a gladius, a Roman short sword. Neither were the user’s first choice of blade type, but like Kageyama, it just  _ fit _ . Somehow or another. 

 

While the others took their time, Tsukishima was very quick to choose his weapons. Unlike the rest, he had chosen paired blades, and had taken two weapons: a pair of sais and a pair of kamas. Kuroo said that he looked like a farmer, as kamas were originally farming tools and sais stemmed from pitchforks, but the remark went ignored. 

 

According to Kenma, players technically weren’t supposed to be able to carry two weapons at the same time, but Tsukishima rebutted, saying that since these were twin weapons bought together, they could be used as such.

 

“So that’s why they were expensive,” Hinata had inputted.

 

Yamaguchi decided to go for long range weapons to compensate for everyone else’s melee, choosing a bow and arrows and a spear, which was strapped on his back parallel to the quiver. This caused some muttering and mild disagreement, but in the end nobody put up a fight.

 

Contrary to his character, Kuroo had settled with a large scythe with a dark blade that stood taller than even the player himself. When they walked out of the blacksmith’s shop, Tsukishima didn’t hesitate to immediately point out how people would avert their gaze, and that he looked like a grim reaper, especially with the black robes. (“It was called “Death Scythe” for a reason, you know,” Kuroo had returned defensively, only to receive a skeptical look. Tsukishima blamed him for copying his kamas, and Yamaguchi said that they were all being too petty. “You’re lucky to still have a green player cursor,” Kenma added, but Kuroo insisted on keeping the abnormal weapon.)

 

The silver, black, and blue blades glinted in the morning sun as the six made their way across the plains. Now they experience the true vastness of the immersive functions of the game, as Kenma rebooted all the sensitive functions on their beings. Today was the first full day in the game. The first full day of their new life, one might say. 

 

The night before, they had whiled away some amount of sleepless hours in a single room, in one of the nearby cobblestone buildings of the Large Town. There had been a silent truce agreement among the residents to not kill each other while they slept, and each party staked out a room in some random building for the night. At that point, no one but the die-hard rule nerds cared about the prices. In the morning, most of the residents were leaving, and Kenma suspected the town would be empty of these overnight campers by noon, and those who had spent the night in Spawn City or Small Town would fill the Large Town.

 

Hinata and Yamaguchi voiced their pity as all the overnighter guilds completed their raiding of the town, but Kenma silenced them with a shake of his head. Soon enough, he led them out of the town and to the plains, which was where they were now. The end goal was the forest, but getting there by foot could take another day.

 

“Any good drops?” Kuroo called over to Kageyama, who nodded and said, “I got the  _ Antlers of the Chartreuse Deer _ .”

 

“Very good. It’s used in potion making, because it has regenerative powers,” Kenma watched Kageyama store in the Guild Inventory. “Nothing else? Rare drops don’t usually come with other items.”

 

Kageyama confirmed with a nod. “There are more of its pack over there, by the forest,” he pointed. “Let’s go there ne--”

 

“ _ Hinata! _ ” Yamaguchi was rushing to the left of the setters, causing the other four to spin around rapidly to a dangerous sight.

 

A bison three times the shorties’ size was thundering towards him at full speed, and Hinata showed no signs of trying to run or dodge. Instead, he took a guard stance, his sword leveled with his cheekbones, centimeters from his face. The ice blue blade was pointing forward, parallel to the ground, and the redhead was gazing down the length of it like an archer would an arrow. Although Kageyama couldn’t see the face his best friend, he knew the look in his eyes now would mirror his look on the court. 

 

Sheer determination. 

 

“Oi, Hinata, you can’t stop it! Run, Hinata!” Kageyama bellowed, racing after Yamaguchi, who readied his spear, shoulder and arm tensing. He could hear Kenma, Kuroo and Tsukishima’s footsteps padding on the grass behind him, all five of them wondering how the shortest of the group had gotten so far away. 

 

Yamaguchi threw the spear and it rocketed in a straight arc far overhead, but as it fell it missed the bull. But then he gasped, realizing his mistake-- it was going straight for Hinata, who still wasn’t moving, as the hunk of a creature closed in on him, only meters away--

 

“HINATA!!”

 

The bull blocked the player’s view of each other--

 

There was a human cry of pain.

 

“ _ Shit _ ,” the two frontrunners cursed in sync, speeding up.

 

On the other side, Hinata paid no mind, as the spear just barely grazed his back. Distracted and confused, the boy stumbled, his plan ruined. But the beast circled back, and Hinata knew he could do this. 

 

It raced towards him, closer and closer, until he sidestepped at the last second. Crying out, he jammed his blade hilt deep into the shoulder of the beast, causing an even louder cry to issue from the bull. Growling, he cut through the entire creature, grinding it through, dropping its HP from green to red in an instant. Gritting his teeth, Hinata chased after it, thinking,  _ knowing _ he had to do that again. 

 

But next thing he knew, he was facedown in the grass. Scrambling up, he cursed, snatching at the branch that had caught--

 

This was no branch. It was Yamaguchi’s spear. 

 

With another battle cry, Hinata took his stand, putting the spear in his right hand and the gladius in his left. The bull was arcing to the right, circling to Hinata’s side, around ten meters away. 

 

Hinata threw the spear, and then fell to the ground, screaming. The graze in his shoulder throbbed as his hand snaked around to clutch it. Throwing had probably stretched the skin and all that, stretching the wound.

 

He grit his teeth, rolling onto his back in the shimmering vegetation, waiting for the bison to come around again and trample him. He’d be done for, wouldn’t he? Thank god that this immersion thing was so accurate, at least he could spend his last minutes feeling like he was actually alive. Realizing that he’d been mentally babbling in his own head for too long, he shut his eyes, listening as hard as he could. Behind the sound of his panting breaths, the silence told him that the creature was now dead, so he lay in the grass, the pain tiring him. 

 

He exhaled, wiping the sweat from his forehead and shading his eyes with his right hand, still gripping his sword his left. The sun was bright and the grass was a fresh green, but no flowers peeked at him from down here on the ground. There was a buzz of bugs, but none flew in his face.

 

There was the loud scuffling of grass and five sets of feet. 

 

“Hey, are you ok?” large shapes of shadow appeared above him, and kneeling directly at his side was Kageyama. “Your health bar is low.”

 

There was the pop of a healing potion as Kuroo hauled the smaller teen to his feet. “That was reckless of you. Are you ok?”

 

“Shoulder got nicked,” Hinata rolled his right shoulder, but the expected pain didn’t appear. It must have been because wounds didn't persevere in the game, so after effects also wouldn’t persevere. “I’m fine now though.”

 

“God I’m so sorry,” Yamaguchi came forward. Hinata’s eyes widened and he shifted backwards, eyeing the orange cursor over his head, realizing why his shoulder hurt, figuring out why that spear had been just  _ there _ in the grass. “No, Yamaguchi, it was my bad, now you’ve got an orange tag.”

 

He clasped his hands together. “No, it was my fault, I’m sorry, I was aiming for the bison-thing and it missed and it--”

 

“No, it’s okay, I know it looked bad for me,” tucking his dagger into his thick leather belt, the spiker bounced his weight on his heels once and strode past the rest of the group. They all shifted and exchanged hesitant looks. “It’s ok, I forgive you. C’mon, I’m fine, let’s keep going. Also, how was the kill?”

 

But at last, they relaxed and followed the redhead’s footsteps across the prairie, and no one seemed astonished at Hinata’s ability to stand up and get on so easily. After all, it was what he did in volleyball practice, and in games, and there it was again: sheer determination. 

 

His non-dwelling nature struck at Yamaguchi in particular, even though he saw his fellow team member’s fast pace more often than not. And then his breath caught for a second.  _ A survival technique of sorts? Just focusing on keeping himself alive and not thinking about the other things would be very helpful. But I still hit him, he may pretend he’s fine but I hit him, what if I’ve hurt him really deeply on the inside and he doesn’t want to say so now but later he’ll come after me-- _

 

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima brought his childhood friend back to the present with a light strike to his upper arm. “He’s alright.”

 

The brunette looked to his blonde friend, bit his lip, and didn’t respond. Instead, he focused his gaze on the shushing grasses underfoot, on wringing his hands, looking everywhere but at Tsukishima, or Hinata.

 

“I know you feel like he’s not. But think of it this way-- He’s been hit in the head by other people’s serves before, and he forgives them very easily. He’s not going to hold a grudge against you, and he knows that you were only trying to save him.”

 

“Are you sure he’s not angry?” the shorter of the two then paused. “No. Sorry, I just keep overthinking, I can’t stop and it’s worse than usual,” he began to tug at the always stray tuft of hair. 

 

The other stayed silent for a few seconds, before their attentions naturally went to the conversation taking place up front. 

 

“-- commend you if it didn’t seem so foolish from far away,” Kenma fell into step beside Hinata, five or so meters ahead of the beanpole and his freckled friend. “If you had us closer, as backup, it wouldn’t seem so irrational to attempt what you did. As for the technique, sidestepping at the last minute is a classic.”

 

“Thanks, but ouch? Mean.”

 

“Not to mention, other higher power mobs might not be so easily fooled, and might carry other tricks with them. Which is also why I had you all get your beginning experience here-- first things first.”

 

Hinata hung his head.

 

“But don’t be too down on yourself. After all, gaming and volleyball taught me that experience means more than anything-- grades, your job, money, whoever your special someone is. It will come in time. Besides, you are doing well for someone who couldn’t sort out his dropdown menu four hours ago.”

 

“ _ Gwah. _ Kenma is as mean as Bakayama.”

 

“Oi!” the taller setter roared, suddenly appearing over Hinata’s left shoulder, causing the latter to jump and playfully whimper.

 

“Basically, you’ll get there eventually,” Kuroo’s black hair flopped in his face as he paced on the shortest player’s heels. “At this point, just do what you can, and always have backup with you. We’ll be fine, I promise. We’ll be fine.”

 

The bed head’s laugh resounded across the open landscape as the redhead cracked a small smile. The pudding head shrugged, as if to say,  _ he’s sorta right but he’s Kuroo so take it with a grain of salt _ .

 

Plodding along behind the four, Tsukishima just turned and stared at the Large Town, which stood silent, way off in the distance. For everything he had, he prayed that this horrible, sick game would spare them. And that if he had to goddamn lay down his life for this godforsaken Kayabitch?

 

Well, he’d do it fighting. Goddammit, he wasn’t about to let some stupid computer hacky shit dictate his or his friends’ right to fucking live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I gave yamaguchi anxiety

**Author's Note:**

> will try to update soon, this is rather slowly updated work. Please check out other works written by us, we'd really appreciate it! 
> 
> Rec works: 
> 
> KHISCOD: Five Months (both versions), We shouldn't be texting but we are anyway
> 
> Ny: the confession book, envelops


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